pseudospecies, monsters, and animism with Malado Francine + see you in september!
ESSAY THIRTEEN: "WHAT IS ALIVE?"
Shape me.
I can be anything.
So can you.
AFTERTHOUGHTS
This week I talk with Malado Francine (b. Malado Francine Baldwin-Tejeda), an American multi-media artist based in Los Angeles. Her work in multiple media examines the intersection of culture and identity through the re-telling of personal narratives. Outstanding influences in her work include a childhood spent in Dakar, Senegal and Bamako, Mali as the daughter of former Peace Corps volunteers in a mixed-race family of Hispanic descent. She holds a BA in comparative literature from Swarthmore College, and an MFA in painting from the New York Studio School. She spent more than 15 years living and making art in New York City before moving to Los Angeles in 2013.
Her work is in public and private collections worldwide, including her early film work as a part of Miranda July’s Joanie4Jackie film archive at Bard College and the Getty Research Institute, the William Louis-Dreyfus collection, Kean University, Michael Levine Foundation, The Philosophical Research Society, and the Ruth Bader Ginsburg collection.
from Malado Francine's collection: Technicolor Fragment, 2021
As we spoke, I felt myself zoom out to where my own curiosity with creatures began. We found ourselves in conversation around the idea of an "eye," a theme and image that emerges regularly in her work. We found threads of connection between each other's thinking and practices. It was an expansive and future-oriented exchange.
"I try to live my life in this Jain or Buddhist way where you have respect for everything," Malado shares.
After our conversation, I wandered to my neighborhood park with Ziggy and we found ourselves crossing paths with a word that means a great deal to me but which I don't explicitly name in my artistic practice.
Later that evening I met my friend in Brooklyn for an evening walk. We talked for almost an hour until we reached the promenade where the city feels panoramic. Water and trees took over, her dog grew eager if we stood still for too long.
It was that after-sunset window of time that feels close to dreams.
To me, this is the mood of Malado's work.
"I think part of the joy of being an artist is maintaining that level of curiosity you had as a child," she says. "And finding ways to nurture it."
Walks like these, exploring with fellow animals at the helm, these are critical moments I have for myself as an artist, what I recognize as my pathways for staying alert, aware, and inspired about where I am at in my thinking and what excites me about the urban ecology I exist within.
But what moved me most about Malado's work is her kindness, and the empathetic way she approaches the idea of a monster. I recently heard Dr. Blackie share the distinction between the classic Campbell Hero's Journey versus the idea of a post-Heroic Journey, one that is more distinctly feminine, in which the journeyer is buoyed by communities of care, by tender helpers along the way. I think of this as Malado describes her pleasant encounters with snakes, birds, salamanders, cats, and the other creatures that make up her life, and the pseudospecies now inhabiting her canvas. We don't know where we are going as a population, but we can feed our best instincts to grow into more compassionate, aligned beings. For Malado, she seems to notice this possibility emerging in her new creations, especially through the presence of the ever-connecting eye.
from Malado Francine's collection: Watching you watching me, 2020
Listen to our full conversation, "Future species with Malado Francine," here!
I'm going on the road for a bit and will be doing a reading in Knoxville, Tennessee alongside some other writers, musicians, comedians, and performers. We are partnering with Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi for the event. I'd love to see you there! Will be back with a fresh letter and animal news for you in early September :).
READING LIST: MONSTERS!!!
A few classic tales of aliens and monsters, which Malado seeks to resist in her work, but do serve as commentaries on our relationship with land and creatures: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Alan Moore's Saga of Swamp Thing, and the film Arrival.
I also recently digitized my zine, swimming breast stroke as a swamped thing. It's now available for $2 if you'd like to go on an underwater journey of earthly renewal.